Teresa Pei, a member of the Chinese Embassy in Canada, said China respects Canadian sovereignty.

“The Chinese government respects and recognizes and supports the sovereignty of Canada. Our bilateral relations are fully oriented toward the improvement of bilateral strategic and economic relations, and respect China’s sovereignty, security and development priorities,” she said.

Asked about the news reports, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs defended the two countries’ policy and described the comments as just a “political comment.”

“There is no change in our bilateral policy,” said China’s embassy in Ottawa, referring to the release of the letters.

“China and Canada continue to be friendly neighbours,” he told a regular news conference in Beijing before leaving. “For some reason, the media and some people have been discussing this in the media with inappropriate, negative and extremely misleading terminology.”

With files from The Associated Press

Also on HuffPost:

• This article was originally published on In These Days.

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• Inside China’s’very strict’ political guidelines, and why China should listen to them

• This story was originally posted on HuffPost Canada.

Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of National Defence Jason Kenney, second from left, during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 1, 2014. (AP/Charles Krupa)